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Sunday, 24 April 2016

I was up and out of the house this morning at 4.50am where a few minutes later I pulled up at Nethergong. Although the wind had dropped which is excellent when you are trying to listen into the darkness, the heavy rain proved to be a problem as it echoed as it hit the car, not what I wanted. Not wanting to get totally soaked, I spent the first hour in the car where I managed to see or hear 25 species. It was nice to see the Little Owl again which landed quite close on the fence line and spent the next 10 minutes or so hunting earthworms from here. Eventually, I had to get a soaking so after driving into Nethergong and parking up, I started the 3 hour session and walked thee circuit 3 times. I was hoping that the rain would drop a few migrants in and I had high hopes of a Whimbrel flying over but alas, this did not happen today. All was not wasted though as I managed to log 52 species today and despite the rain, I had a good time strolling around. Around 9am, the rain had stopped and it started to brighten up which in turn, made a few more species become active. Birds noted today were 3 Pheasant, 5 Yellowhammer, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Mistle Thrush, 2 Blackcap, 1 Green Woodpecker, 9 Mallard, 5 Whitethroat, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker and 1 Cuckoo was around most of the morning where later I tried another few shots of it. Not a lot of light to work with in the dull skies but its slowly getting there.

Cuckoo

There were 4 Cetti's Warbler, 3 Stock Dove, 2 Kestrel, 2 Jay, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Nightingale still in full song, 2 Sedge Warbler, 1 Grasshopper Warbler still reeling from the northern reedbed, 3 Bullfinch, 4 Chiffchaff, 2 Tufted Duck, 1 Treecreeper and 1 Willow Warbler. Other birds noted were c20 Mute Swan, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Swallow, 4 Lesser Black backed Gull, 1 Lesser Whitethroat, 1 Common Buzzard and 1 Reed Bunting. It was nice to see a Barn Owl again which spent some time hunting the fields and although not the best light for photos, I couldn't resist firing off a few shots of these lovely birds as it flew over a rapeseed field. Maybe a visit during the evening this week if time and the weather allows, fingers crossed!

I had forgotten about your Nethergong blog, Marc. Glad I remembered! You're getting some really good species at the site. Very impressive Cuckoo flight shots and love the Barn Owl and Gropper images too (in previous post).